The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday confirmed that the 102 bags of rice impounded by the Nigeria Customs Service were contaminated with microorganisms.
It however denied that they were plastic rice.
NAFDAC also stated that the seized rice consignment was unsatisfactory and therefore unwholesome for human consumption.
Director General of NAFDAC, Yetunde Oni, made this disclosure in Abuja at a joint press briefing with the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), who was represented by a Deputy Comptroller General, Umar Iya.
Addressing the issue of the suspected fake rice, the NAFDAC boss said the seized product was not plastic rice.
She said: “The Agency sent a team of inspectors to the office of the Customs Area Comptroller, Federal Operations Ikeja, Lagos to draw samples from the seized consignment for laboratory analysis.
“The product, branded as “Best Tomato” was in 25kg pack size, without NAFDAC number, no batch number, no date markings and no details of the manufacturer.
“The preliminary result of the analysis was conveyed to the Honorable Minister for Health, Prof Isaac F. Adewole and was made public on 22nd December, 2016 whilst awaiting the comprehensive result.”
She assured that the NAFDAC, in collaboration with Nigerian Customs Service, would continue to intensify vigilance and surveillance activities at all entry ports and boarders.
In his remarks, the customs comptroller general explained that the agency’s action was based on an earlier intelligence received from Office of the National Security Adviser, which alerted it and other frontline agencies that large consignments of plastic rice were said to be shipped from the Far East to Africa.
He said men and officers of customs were therefore charged to watch out for such imports that do not conform with regulatory requirements.
The men and officers of customs, he added, would intensify their patrols to ensure that economic saboteurs do not succeed.
